Navarre’s boys’ cross-country team sped to a fourth-place team finish at the Wildcat meet Saturday. The girls’ runners finished eighth in a field of 15 schools.
Story by Near Post Sports
Heavy rains in the days prior and a drizzle at race time mired the newly-redesigned, challenging course in slippery conditions, which slowed finishing times for everyone. However, both Navarre teams clustered their scoring athletes tightly.
In a slight shakeup of the top finishers from previous races, Cesar Murphy lead the way with a 20 minute eight second time for 19th place overall in a field of 163 runners representing 19 schools. The succession of Raiders crossing the line – Gavin Anthony (21st, 20:16), Ivan Bateman (25th, 20:40), Luke Morris (31st, 20:58), and Dalan Bunn (38th, 21:17) – were within 68 seconds of each other. That was the closest split of runners on the entire day.
“We had a very, very tight pack, mid-group. But a tight pack,” Navarre boys’ coach James Fox said. “They want to win. They want to be – in a healthy realm – competitive with each other. It’s a community. We’re all together. Bleeding together. It’s great.”
The day’s times were slow, but Murphy was focused on the chase.
“I was just running my own race, and I just happen to be in front,” Murphy said. “I know this isn’t the best course for personal records. I’m happy with my time. I like how challenging it is.”
The girls finishing order had a new face up front. Athena Hicks broke the tape first for the Raiders, finishing 21st overall in 25:22. Hicks overtook Lily Campbell for the team’s lead position in the final flat, grassy clearing.
“Lily and I have wanted to beat each other from day one. She’s been number one, and I’ve been number two. It’s my goal to beat her in a friendly way,” Hicks said. “The rain makes it slippery, and this course is really hard. There were a lot of hills, and roots, and rocks.”
Campbell was just nine seconds slower, 23rd overall. Rachel Rousseau (43rd, 278:17), Julia Stephens (58th, 27:54), and Emma Burton (62nd, 27:59) completed the scoring.
It’s a varsity lineup entirely of underclassmen, and they had the third closest finishing spread of scorers.
“We’re starting to bunch together, which is really nice,” girls’ head coach Katie Fein said. “Their times are going to be worse (today), but that’s not based off effort. They kicked butt.”
The team is slated to run again this weekend at the J.D. Mac Invitational meet in Jay.
All photos © 2021 by Stu Camp can be purchased in high resolution at https://stuartcamp.smugmug.com/
All photos © 2021 by Stu Camp can be purchased in high resolution at https://stuartcamp.smugmug.com/
